AP - Clear skies were forecast Monday across most of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, although a lingering cold front was expected to cause more showers and thunderstorms in the Southeast.

AP - NASA's new robot on Mars has reached out and touched the soil for the first time, leaving behind a striking footprint-like impression, scientists said Sunday.

AP - Targeted brain surgery like that planned Monday morning for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is a delicate balance — removing as much tumor as possible improves cancer control, but there's also the risk of harming healthy brain tissue that lets patients walk and talk.

AP - Space shuttle Discovery performed a slow back flip and then docked at the international space station on Monday, delivering a mammoth lab and two new occupants: a NASA astronaut and Buzz Lightyear.

Reuters - Australia has become a refuge for a new endangered species: the high-flying banker.

AP - Tropical Storm Arthur weakened to a dissipating depression Sunday after soaking the Yucatan Peninsula. But heavy rains still threatened to cause dangerous flooding and mudslides in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.

AP - From higher electric bills to more expensive gasoline, the possible economic cost of tackling global warming is driving the debate as climate change takes center stage in Congress.

AP - NASA's new robot on Mars has reached out and touched the soil for the first time, leaving behind a striking footprint-like impression, scientists said Sunday.

AP - Shuttle Discovery closed in on the international space station early Monday with a super-size delivery: a scientific lab that's as big as a school bus and a toilet pump.

AFP - Japan's Kibo module, the main component of which is being carried to the International Space Station by NASA's Discovery shuttle, marks a major expansion of the station's research capacity.

AP - Tropical Storm Arthur has weakened to a tropical depression after soaking the Yucatan Peninsula.

AP - It's not just concern for the squeamish biology students who wince at the feel and smell of cutting into a formaldehyde-soaked animal.

AP - Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow near the Rocky Mountains to offer his forecast for the six-month hurricane season that starts June 1. And the news media are there, breathlessly awaiting his every word.